An old buzzword is back: Bargains

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: As the year began, consumers started to see a trickle of advertisements that played up brand value rather than attributes like status or prestige. As the economy worsened in the Spring and Summer, the trickle became a torrent. Now, as the crisis in finance continues, a veritable tidal wave of ads devoted to saving money is washing over the country.

The list of marketers seeking to draw the attention of budget-conscious shoppers reads like a Who’s Who of Madison Avenue. Among them are Bayer, ConAgra, Home Depot, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Toyota Motor, Wal-Mart and Yu m Brands.“Given the economic climate, we’re working at the best way to appeal to the consumers,” said Jay Kolpon, vice-president for marketing,Bayer HealthCare division.

Recently, Bayer HealthCare began running a commercial by BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group, that presents its Aleve line of analgesics as an economical way to get relief from arthritis pain. The theme of the spot: “That’s value. That’s Aleve.”

The commercial is “something that we added to the mix,” Kolpon said, once it became clear that “tough times” had arrived. The value spot is running along with a campaign called “Buy one, give one,” which encourages customers to give a package of Advil to a family member or friend with each package they purchase.

The decision to concentrate on frugality echoes the shifts in the tone and emphasis of ads during recessions in 1973-74 and 1990-91, after the stock market crash in 1987, and after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000-01.

Marketing textbooks suggest that a focus in the short term on pinching pennies could in the long run have a deleterious effect on the images of brands by cheapening them. “You can’t blame people for being edgy,” said James R Gregory, chief executive at CoreBrand, a consulting company in NY, because “good brands, good companies, such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, are gone overnight, and that’s unprecedented.”

At the same time, marketers must “make sure they’re not destroying brand equity, not destroying everything that made their brands great,” Gregory said, by “overly discounting, giving everything away.” “You can communicate your concerns” about the economy, he added, “but let people know what your long-term value proposition is by reinforcing the brand equity.”